Howling At The Moon
by Signs of Dusk
Summary: HIATUS


**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who**

Prologue

"There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in."

-Graham Greene

She had always had a fondness for animals, dogs in particular.

At eight years old, there was nothing Rose Tyler wanted more than to have her own pet. But her mother adamantly refused the proposition, declaring that it would be too much responsibility for her to handle. Rose had wanted to argue that she was old enough to take care of a pet all on her, had wanted to insist that it didn't have to be a big dog (even though that was what she secretly wanted). Jackie Tyler would hear nothing of it, declaring the discussion closed when the argument became too much for her to handle.

Rose stormed out of the flat after she made sure her mother knew that she hated her, pretending that she hadn't heard her mother break down crying over her cruel words. Any acknowledgment would cause her resolve to crumble, and Rose was too stubborn to let that happen just yet.

She ran off to the nearby park, plowing through the few feet of snow that had blanketed the ground hours ago. She had every intention of seeking refuge at the rickety swing set, but it seemed she wasn't the only one that had that in mind.

A man sat slumped upon one of the swings, swaying slowly back and forth as he stared at his feet. His hair hung in his face and his shoulders sagged with defeat. Even from afar, Rose could get a sense of great sadness exuding off the man. It only seemed to validate her assumption when he quickly dabbed at his eyes with his thumb, sniffing thickly as he sighed.

Rose froze in her place, eyeing the stranger apprehensively. Her mum had always made a point of reminding her to never talk to strangers, and for the most part Rose had followed such sound advice. But as she looked at that lonely figure on the swing, she couldn't bring herself to leave him wallowing in whatever misery he was experiencing.

"Are you alright?" she asked, managing to startle the lonely man out of his thoughts.

He turned his head to her, such sad, and such miserable, ancient eyes colored green like the sea meeting curious and innocent doe brown. For some time the two stared at one another, seemingly at a loss of words until a lopsided smile grew slowly upon the man's face.

"No . . ." he replied with a wet laugh, his confession surprising them both. He scrubbed at his face with his palms, lingering at his eyes to wipe away the tears as he heaved another mournful sigh.

Rose took it upon herself to take a seat on the neighboring swing, her feet just barely grazing the ground as she swayed languidly beside the sad, lonely man.

They fell silent as she gave him the time to recompose himself, demanding nothing of him other than his company. She could sense that he appreciated this, noticing how he would often glance at her as the silence persisted between them. For her part, Rose would glance at him whenever she thought he wasn't looking, only to hastily look away when her eyes met his.

"What are you doing out here, all alone in the middle of the night?" he asked eventually, voice still thick from his present grief.

Rose wrapped her gloved hands around the chains supporting her seat, staring at the snow covered ground with an obstinate pout on her face. "I'm mad at my mum."

"What for?" he inquired, displaying such genuine interest that Rose was not use to seeing in an adult. If she was honest with herself, she kind of enjoyed the rapt attention he was giving her. No one, not even her mum, had ever made her feel like anything she had to say was important, even if it was truly petty. It was quite refreshing.

"She won't let me have a dog," Her pout grew more pronounced as her brow scrunched forward, showing her displeasure of thinking back to the recent argument that had ensued. She had been a brat back there, acting so petulantly over something that she knew, deep down, her mother would never budge on. She had even made her mother cry, something she hadn't really intended doing.

Her hands curled tighter, struggling to hold onto her weakening anger and hoping it would somehow dissuade the guilt that was beginning to rise within her. "I hate her," she muttered lowly, though the words had lost the bite that had once been there before.

"Come now, you don't mean that!" the man asserted, much to Rose's annoyance. She hated how people assumed they knew her better than she knew herself. And the fact that this was coming from a complete stranger made it even more infuriating.

"Of course I do!" she insisted, turning on him to fix a harsh glare that she was sure would prove her point. But to her consternation he merely gazed at her with small smile ghosting his lips, not at all intimidated by the childish display of anger on her face.

He was being patient with her, for reasons she didn't quite understand.

"Deep down, you know you don't hate your mother," he reasoned slowly, his smile stretching carefully on his mirthful face. "You know that she only means well and that she doesn't mean to hurt you when she tells you no. And I'd bet the whole universe that she'd want nothing more to say yes just to see you smile."

Rose ducked her head to look shamefully at her feet, feeling thoroughly chastened by the stranger's calm reasoning.

Her mum had it hard, raising her daughter all on her own. It wasn't always easy and sometimes her mother couldn't be the strong one. With the constant flings and subsequent depression that the alcohol never seemed to help, her mother was so filled with a hurt that she couldn't always hide from Rose. Sometimes Rose had to be the strong one and take care of her mother, as unorthodox as it was.

They were all they had for each other. Jackie and Rose Tyler against the world. And she . . . she had betrayed that by declaring that she _hated_ her mum. Both knew she hadn't really meant it (her mum did know, right?), but that didn't lessen the sting the words were sure to have brought.

"Hey," he murmured softly, covering one of her hands with his own carefully in an attempt to draw her attention. Clear dismay came to his features when he noticed the way she had begun to cry. "Don't you cry now. No more tears. It's not right for a pretty little girl like you to be crying."

Looking into his eyes as he gently wiped away the few tears that managed to slip down her flushed cheeks, Rose got the sense of such profound sadness that swam in a pool of love. In spite of his own pain, he was comforting her, a rightful stranger, and for the life of her she couldn't understand why.

"Who are you?" she finally asked, feeling a bit daft that the thought hadn't occurred to her until now.

He flashed her that same, sad smile, dropping his hands to his lap before looking up at the sky. Rose mirrored his gaze, wondering what it was about the night sky he found so fascinating.

"I've been called many things," he relented eventually with a mild shrug. "And nothing at all. But who I am is no matter. Tell me, who are you?"

She opened her mouth, ready to reply when her mother's voice cut shrilly through the night air.

"ROSE MARION TYLER YOU GET AWAY FROM THAT MAN THIS INSTANT!" Jackie hollered, rushing over to the pair with the ferocity of a mother bear protecting its cub.

Rose noticed how the man stiffened considerably beside her, looking first to her mother in evident fear and then back to her with a strange look of awe.

"Rose Tyler . . ." he breathed with a disbelieving laugh that hinged close to hysteria. "Why of course you are."

She didn't have time to ponder his strange and frightening words before her mother yanked her from the swing and gave the man a good wallop to the face that had him flailing from his own swing.

"Stay the hell away from my daughter, you sick pervert," she growled, snagging Rose's hand in her own and tugging her along behind her.

"Mum!" whined Rose, thoroughly embarrassed by her mother's reaction. "He wasn't doing anything. We were just talkin'!"

"Not now, young lady," Jackie clipped out, her heart still racing from the initial fear that had nearly consumed her when she had glanced at the window to check on her daughter and had spotted her speaking with a man she didn't recognize.

Rose gave up the impossible endeavor of trying to convince her mum that nothing had happened, resigning herself to look over her shoulder to get one last look at the strange, lonely man.

He sat in a tangle of limbs upon the snow, watching them go with that sad look back on his face. But his eyes lit up when he noticed her stare, a lopsided smile quirking up one corner of his mouth as he gave a little wave.

Rose gave a tentative smile and returned his wave with one of her own.

**Author's Note: This is connected to Roaring At The Sun. ****They can be read together or separately but they are in the same universe (relatively speaking). And it will feature the 9th, 10th, and 11th doctors.**


End file.
